Early Head Start

The Early Head Start home-based program is one of Head Start’s comprehensive program options designed to meet the needs of low-income pregnant women and families of infants and toddlers. In the 2010 enrollment year, there were 43,796 EHS federally funded enrollment slots for infants and toddlers. This constitutes about 45% of the national EHS funded enrollment for infants and toddlers.

Early Childhood Family Education

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) initially received funding from the 1992 Minnesota Legislature for home visiting as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill. Since FY 1994, school districts have been authorized to levy $1.60 times their birth to four population specifically for continuation of this effort. The concept of home visiting as part of Early Childhood Family Education programming did not begin with the 1992 legislation. Home visiting has been a strategy used by ECFE staff for reaching and serving families with young children since the pilot programs began in 1975.

Early Childhood Family Education Annual Reports show that over 17,000 home visits were conducted during the 2009-2010 school year by ECFE staff. Many of these were done in conjunction with other agencies. Over 6,500 one-time, in- person newborn infant contacts were made.
Home Visiting Statutes Minnesota Statutes, 124D.13, Subdivision 4, states that a district that levies for home visiting under section 124D.135, subdivision 6, shall use this revenue to include as part of the early childhood family education programs a parent education component that is designed to reach isolated or at-risk families.
The home visiting program must use:
(1) an established risk assessment tool to determine the family's level of risk;
(2) establish clear objectives and protocols for home visits;
(3) encourage families to make a transition from home visits to site-based parenting programs;
(4) provide program services that are community-based, accessible, and culturally relevant; and
(5) foster collaboration among existing agencies and community-based organizations that serve young children and their families.

Home visitors should reflect the demographic composition of the community to the extent possible.

Literature & Resources

Early Head Start (EHS) Home-Based Model
The Early Head Start (EHS) Home-Based Model is one of eight evidence-based home visiting models selected for the Affordable Care Act Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. This website provides information and key resources for implementing the EHS home-based option for the state home visiting program. Click Here

Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE)
The Department of Health and Human Services launched Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) to conduct a thorough and transparent review of the home visiting research literature and provide an assessment of the evidence of effectiveness for home visiting programs models that target families with pregnant women and children from birth to age 5.

Home Visiting: Strengthening Families by Promoting Parenting SuccessClick Here from the Family Strengthening Policy Center, National Human Services Assembly

Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV)Click Here

Nurse-Family Partnership

Nurse-Family Partnership's maternal health program introduces vulnerable first-time parents to caring maternal and child health nurses. This program allows nurses to deliver the support first-time moms need to have a healthy pregnancy, become knowledgeable and responsible parents, and provide their babies with the best possible start in life. The relationship between mother and nurse provides the foundation for strong families, and lives are forever changed – for the better. - See more at: http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/#sthash.IVW5iymn.dpuf

Research

Development and Initial Validation of an Outcome Measure for Home Visitation: The Healthy Families Parenting InventoryClick Here Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol. 33(5), 496–505 (2012)The Healthy Families Parenting Inventory (HFPI) is a 63-item outcome measure that was designed to examine change in nine parenting-related domains. The HFPI was developed to respond to the need for an outcome measure for home visitation programs that is relevant to the intervention, sensitive to change, and appropriate with a diverse participant base, and would produce data that are immediately useful in practice. The authors detail the steps in the development and initial validation of the HFPI. The pattern of inter-item and item-to-subscale correlations as well as an exploratory factor analysis and sensitivity to change analysis support the nine-factor model of the HFPI.